The Vineyard

We have finally finished making the vineyard. We settled on 8 grapes (Merlot, Cab Franc, Sangiovese, Toriga Nacional, Carignane, Nebbiolo, Zinfandel, and Petite Syrah). WE have been planning this for about 4 months and moved our raised gardens to make it happen. The nice thing about that was that we already had irrigation run out to the area. We had to make holes ~20" deep and I spaced them about 4.5' apart.


I used redwood 2x2' for stakes and used pressure treated 4x4' for the end posts. Instead of putting posts at each end I ran the trellis wire into the block wall.

 

Our grapes came basically as 18" sticks with some roots at the bottom all wrapped in a plastic bag. Interestingly, most of the vine goes under ground. I was told that this whole part will develop into a root ball and make a stronger rooted plant. We have about 3-4" sticking out at the moment. We will be excited with they start budding and we know that they are alive.

Lucky 13

Dana and I entered our teen years together on Monday. We hit our 13yr anniversary. As we are very adventurous and social, we spent the day working in the yard and then had a nice afternoon snack and Indian food for dinner. It is strange to think that we've been married so long. Certainly doesn't feel like it. God is good.

Desert Museum

We took a trip to the Desert Museum last week with my mom and Ariana. It was the first time I'd been there in at least 12 years. We say a number of animals and saw the raptor flight. They have a raven, falcon and owl fly over-head, literally buzzing the tower. It is pretty impressive. It was a nice overcast and fun day.

Mexico

We had a long weekend in Mexico recently. It was good to get out of town and have a real vacation. Ryan and Yunuen hosted us and we had some of our normal traditions (spades, steak and potatoes) and were able to visit the beach at Kino Bay. It was a perfect weekend to go as there was a storm which kept the temperatures at an enjoyable level. We had good food and good times.